Tuesday June 12th, 2012

Posted at 1:15pm

On Thursday at 11am, thousands of kids and adults at aquatic facilities around the world will unite to set a new global record for The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson.

Parks & Recreation Windsor is an official host location for the 2011 WLSL record-setting event. They will be offering a free 45-minute lesson at three indoor pools. A few places are still available at Adie Knox Herman Recreation Complex, (1551 Wyandotte Street West), but the Gino & Liz Marcus Community Centre (1168 Drouillard Road) and Windsor Water World (400 Wyandotte Street East) are full.

The inaugural 2010 WLSL event established the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous swimming lesson ever conducted when almost 4,000 participants across 34 states, five countries and 3 continents participated to build awareness about the vital importance of teaching children to swim to prevent drowning.

Drowning is the second leading cause of unintended, injury related death of children ages 1-14 in the US. In fact, more than one in four fatal drowning victims are children 14 and younger. Research shows if a child doesn’t learn to swim before the 3rd grade, they likely never will. The threat of childhood drowning is even greater around the globe.